Review: Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes

• Reading level: Young Adult
• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harper Collins (March 18, 2003)
• Language: English

Summary: Eric and Sarah have been friends since junior high, when his weight and her scars made them outcasts. In high school, Eric has slimmed and Sarah doesn't let being an outsider hurt her. Now she sits silent in a hospital. Can Eric uncover her secret before it puts them both in danger?

Sarah Byrnes and Eric have been friends for years. When they were children, his fat and her terrible scars made them both outcasts. Later, although swimming slimmed Eric, she stayed his closest friend.
Now Sarah Byrnes -- the smartest, toughest person Eric has ever known -- sits silent in a hospital. Eric must uncover the terrible secret she's hiding, before its dark currents pull them both under.

Review: At first when I was reading this book I had no sway one way or another towards whether I really liked it, or I didn't I had a sort of ehhh, it's OK feeling. Then, as I got further into the book, and Sarah was in the hospital I really started to like it. I instantly liked both Eric and Sarah and Eric's friend Ellerby. The conversations the characters have together often made me laugh out loud. I'd find myself giggling on the train, I thought they were so witty and clever. If I was in school with them I would have wanted to be friends with them, they were tough, and funny, and smart. I have to admit I thought that Eric and Sarah would end up together in the end, they are the only people who would ever truly understand each other, and they were already so close. Finding out about Sarah Byrnes' scars will  leave the reader feeling sick and angry. The ending was great, I was so happy for how it all turned out, I would recommend this book.